فصلنامه هویت شهر
پیاپی 7 (پاییز و زمستان 1389)

The shortage of theories and research in the field of urban design aesthetics have caused that the creation of beautiful landscape in cities to be regarded as a marginal and selective subject, depending on individual and personal tastes of the clients and designers. In related literature, the studies about the evaluation of urban aesthetics have been focused on the experts’ opinion about the beauty, and thus people's preferences of urban aesthetics are usually ignored. Galindo’s research (2005) is one of the few studies which establish connections between environmental meanings and urban aesthetics by using the people’s opinion about their environments. He introduces variables such as visual wealth, light, originality, and place memories as the most important variables of beautiful urban landscapes. This study is an attempt to demonstrate the people aesthetic preferences and its relation to the identity of place. In evaluating people’s preferences we are looking for the “beauty in the eye of beholder”, and thus the evaluation is involved in the perception of beauty and the emotion people have for their living places. Four hundred residents of the district of Navab (old and new fabrics) interviewed according to a visual test (Q-sort). The findings show that there is no considerable differences between the criteria regarding beautiful landscape and those involving sense of place; it is also recognized that for both beauty and identity the objective criteria are cited more than subjective criteria by the respondents. In detail, the result of people preferences about beauty can be summarized as below:• Objective variables related to the physical appearance of the landscape are more effective than subjective variables such as beliefs and values about the place. The design of the building façade has been the most important criterion in evaluating beauty.• Beautiful landscapes are mostly selected from new designed fabric of Navab.• There is a public consensus in selecting desirable landscapes. Characteristics of the best three selected landscapes are their clarity of form, function, and structure. They all have a strong social context. The results about preferences for identity shows that: • Objective criteria are more notable than subjective ones. Familiarity with place is the important criterion of identity; it obtained the highest rank among other variables.• Three higher landscapes which constituted the highest percent of preferences have special characteristics. All are landmarks with distinctive social context and hold clear forms and functions. •According to the opinions of residents of both old and new fabrics, the new fabric is more identifiable. Although the reason for this selection is residents’ familiarity with space (place identification instead of place identity) but it demonstrates how much the designed environment (as an expert product), influences the people’s preferences of place. It comes to the conclusion that a professional work holds an inherent value for people. This issue should be regarded by those who participate in designing and making decisions about cities. It seems a participatory place making, supports and enhances the compatibility between built form and the people’s preferences.

For better understanding of Islamic Iranian architecture, the study of the initial Islamic era (1-5/7-12 century) is so vital. This period, owing to the transmission of the Iranian culture and civilization from the Sasanian into Islamic time, is principally known as “Transitional Period”. This progressive and continuous transition, finally have been established new Islamic culture and civilization in Iran. In these circumstances, the pre- Islamic Iranian art and architecture evolved and new themes, which were appropriate with new situation, were appeared. These new subjects were mainly inspired by pre-Islamic elements or in some cases were even emerged by borrowing them.In spite of emerging new type of building such as mosque and mausoleum, traditional elements, decoration and technique of pre- Islamic architecture, especially in their local styles, were still employed. Among other types of buildings, the mosque as the main place of worship has been the most significant Islamic building and the study of it is important for better understanding the architectural history of each period. Owing to the necessity of constructing mosque in the early Islamic centuries in Iran, they were patterned on the eminent Abbasid mosques, mainly built in the western Islamic world. However the architects attempted to illustrate the local identity by applying the Iranian architectural traditions.Among the early Islamic mosques in Iran, the Tarikhana Mosque in Damghan and the Friday mosque in Fahraj, are well-known. The latter, which is the topic of this survey, will be discussed in detail. The mosque was first introduced by Muhammad Karim Pirniya in 1969. Owing to its pre- Islamic resemblance of its decoration and architectural elements, he believed that the building is the earliest survived mosque in Iran. He did not say any specific date for constructing the building, but its date has been normally mentioned as the 1st/7th century.The mosque became the subject of later studies that carried out mainly by western scholars, who date this building not earlier than the late years of the 3rd/10th century or beginning of the 4th/11th century.This study aims to re-examine this controversial building. The main source of information has been provided by the author’s field work. In addition, the previous findings of scholars and literary texts support this research. The article highlights the architectural characteristics of the building after description of the mosque. It shows that how the dominant Arabic plan of the mosque was built in local style. The pre-Islamic elements, such as the barrel vaults and various forms of decoration were applied by local builder. The study concludes that the Friday Mosque was built in the 3rd/9th century and its attributing to the 1st/7th century is unlikely.Owing to little surviving buildings from the early Islamic Iran, the study is important on several reasons. The mosque is an authentetic example of early Islamic mosque in Iran. The colour painting on plaster of the mosque is one of the earliest examples of Islamic Iranian architecture. In addition, the architectural elements of mosque suggest the continuity of pre-Islamic style.

Observation of cities with increasing problems such as population density, poverty, unemployment, shortage of housing, inadequacy of service catering, lack of infrastructures, environmental pollutions, economic inefficiency and onset of social abnormality and deviation from social norms, which all of these will create mental apprehension and anxiety for experts and urban planners engaged in city construction, and urban management. Also, this issue will cause concern and tension for the main users of the cities, the urban dwellers, in other words the people. Surely, they all want to know what are the reasons behind all these inefficiencies of the models and patterns rendered and are eager to find a solution for this complication and problem. The purpose of this research is to examine the weak points and failure of urban construction managers in fulfillments of implementing their methods of urban construction management. In carrying out this survey, the writer has benefited from various system design of urban construction of various developed countries adaptability and application such rules where applicable. The result of this survey revealed that with status quo, the inadequacies and complications existed in the cities were the main causes of inefficiencies of housing and urban construction system within the country. Therefore, highlighting the need for better urban design, it seems that the present urban planning system requires undergoing major changes by revising laws and regulation and codes of practice in architecture and building design. Utilizing building quality assurance, maintaining neighborhood citizenship and civil rights and adaptability of construction codes of practice with achievable and accessible urbanization norms and standards are the other essential elements for good urban design system. Sets of urbanization parameters and factors of every country are function of systems prevailing that country. Even though, in the urban planning all countries try to follow and observe similar and specified rules and regulations and prepare their tools for implementing such rules in accordance with general principles. But, having different political, social, and economical structures in every country, they have different distinguished features which differentiate them from each other.Good urban design is essential if we are to produce attractive, high-quality, sustainable places in which people will want to live, work and relax. It is fundamental to our objective of an urban renaissance. We do not have to put up with shoddy, unimaginative and second-rate buildings and urban areas. There is a clamor for better designed places which inspire and can be cherished, places where vibrant communities can grow and prosper.

Formation of the informal settlements has become a global challenge in cities especially the ones in developing countries. These settlements encounter problems such as poverty, illegal land occupation, lack of infrastructures, low quality of house and etc. In the past few years, informal urban housing, and tenure insecurity have been attracting attention of the many global development organizations like UN_HABITAT, World Bank and so on. As such it leads to a steady stream of academic writings and new initiatives on the subject. Most of them intend to present solutions to solve land occupation security in order to improve living conditions in informal settlements. Recent studies believe that tenure security for low-income settlement dwellers encounter three distinct forms: tenure security as perceived by dwellers, tenure security as a legal construct and de facto tenure security. Nowadays there are two different approaches regarding the tenure security which as follow: traditional and modern approaches. Traditional approaches focus on tenure security more than legal aspect. These consider the occupation security as having title-deed for the official occupancy of a place. Although the modern approach does not negate the possibility that the title can generate tenure security, it argues that the same object can be achieved through different factors which have been called extra-legal and semi legal factors. There exists a distance between the idea of tenure security and the legal concept which has turned it into a social psychology issue. Social psychological approach shows that people’s decisions are often influenced by what they feel about a situation.Survey method is considered as the methodology of this research to achieve an objective and hypotheses test. According to this method, questionnaires was prepared and filled in Islamabad neighborhood. Finally, by using statistical techniques of factor analysis, Cronbach`s Alpha, Pearson correlation analysis and multiple regressions, the main analysis of data completed. The social psychological approach is defined in a way which makes the concept of perceived tenure security. Through following these means, the same conception is shown to be composed of the perceived probability of eviction (a thinking state), the fear of eviction (a feeling state) and the lack of support networks, which are separate variables.Within the results there are positive and direct relationship between housing quality and tenure security. Since other factors such as probability of eviction, fear of eviction and lack of support networks affect the perceived occupation security of households, the legal ownership is not the whole tenure Security in the neighborhood of the case study. Among these factors, lack of support networks influence the perceived tenure security of households much more than the other factors. Since informal settlements are key location of the urban poor to live, presumably the monthly income of households plays an essential role in tenure security and housing quality which can affects them. Therefore, it is recommended that the subsequent studies use the households monthly income as controlable variable in their tests in the future. The paper's outcome can be considered as the future studie's basis on the same subject.

Today, the term “sustainability” is used in many academic and nonacademic communities and the themes of many conferences and seminars are dedicated to this topic. But in an era of escalating consumerism and endless growth, it seems that sustainability will face more difficulties in pursuit of its goals. Although architecture schools care about sustainability and seek appropriate solutions for environmental concerns, the recentness of the topic has caused architecture to face various obstacles such as "limited expertise", "lack of inspiring prototypes to counterbalance prevalent non-sustainable lifestyles", "fringe reputation", "number crunching", "the old guard", "holistic vs. fragmented", "the Braux art tradition", " unawareness of environment crisis" and "lack of technical courses that support design studios" inside the classroom and "ambiguous identity", "confusing implications", "the magic flute", "the question of aesthetic" and high cost of sustainability outside the classroom. Following an investigation into environmental crises, the principles and history of sustainable architecture, two sustainable education models (one theoretical and the other practical) and the obstacles facing the teaching of sustainable architecture, this paper attempts to analyze architectural education in Iran in order to assess the performance of Iranian architecture schools in teaching sustainable design. For this reason, courses taught in Iran's architectural schools are divided into 5 categories including: "Architectural Design", "Building Technology", "Architectural History and Theory", "Urban and Rural Development" and "Historical Building and Renovation”. Then the challenges mentioned are examined in each category with secondary data reviews. While courses related to sustainability and environmental crisis are not taught in Iran's universities, some obstacles like "fringe reputation:, "number crunching”, “limited expertise" and "the old guard" are not studied and only 4 obstacle including "holistic vs. fragment", "the Braux art tradition", "unawareness of environment crisis" and " lack of technical courses support of design " are investigated in architecture universities. This paper will conclude that architectural education in Iran follows one rigid strategy, which is not suitable for a multidisciplinary field like architecture, particularly sustainable architecture: therefore Iranian architecture schools are not capable of teaching sustainability, whether as an attitude or as a technique. Therefore, a systematic policy is essential, one that concentrates on all three important parts of an educational system: well-defined goals, planning in accordance with these goals and the assessment of programs to refine goals. This paper also proposes two level programs consisting of: 1. Level 1 (architecture education system): In this level, one flexible system will be defined consisting of several subsystems in accordance to global and local challenges. Each of these subsystems includes various theoretical and practical courses with focus on its subsystem goals. Students can choose some of these subsystems _which are controlled by one management system_ according to their interests.. This model of education system, not only lets students learn what they are interested in, but also produces graduates with different types of skills who can cover the different needs of society.2.Level 2 (sustainability subsystem): This level consists of theoretical and practical courses (especially interdisciplinary courses) relating to sustainability education in architecture.

of numerous earthquakes and the extent of damage they have caused together with the steps taken to reduce their impact have all shown that such steps have often been limited to structural engineering issues and the strengthening of buildings against earthquakes. Although such strategies have resulted in improving the endurance of buildings and reducing the number of casualties, their increasing costs and other factors have prevented them from being completely satisfactory for the people involved. The design of buildings is an extensive process which begins with the general goals and strategies, which manifest themselves as holistic designs concepts and regulations that govern the framework of design and the requirements for the resistance of buildings against earthquakes. In this design process, the architect determines form and configuration of the building which has the most influence on the building's performance against earthquakes.Research on the construction industry, specifically architectural design have shown that Iran's Office of Technical Affairs and their regulatory codes and guidelines suffer from the following problems:1. lack of holistic regulatory codes, or the presence of contradictory or unproductive documents, specifically in the field of architectural design, 2. reliance on prescriptive codes that act against creativity in architectural design A study on the essence and the progression of regulatory codes for earthquake design suggests that PBSD(performance based seismic design) and its related body of research is more in tune with the nature of architectural design and is more capable of answering the socio-economic needs of the people involved. In contrast to prescriptive methods of the past or those that are in operation now, performance based seismic design is more in tune with architectural design because: first, both (architectural design and PBSD) require a process that begins with the definition of goals and ends with an assessment of a design proposals. Second, both processes are capable of repetition until the proposed design manages to achieve the goals set out at the beginning. Third point of similarity is that in both processes, stockholders as same as other organizations are considered an important benefiting party and are given an important role in each process. Performance based seismic design is defined by choosing criteria that are inspired by a few performance goals. Each of these goals in turn defines the problems that arise from a particular level of destruction while also relating these levels of destruction to the different levels of earthquake risk. In this regard, the paper aims to carry out the following tasks and displays their 1. Identifying the similarities between performances based seismic design and architectural design. 2. Introducing different methods for generating documents (regulatory codes and criteria) for PBSD in architecture3. Elucidate the role of architects in preparing such regulatory codes and criteria4. Forecasting the future of regulatory codes of architectural seismic design and its relevant research 5. Presenting a practical proposal for an evaluative methodology for reducing the vulnerability of buildings against earthquakes and formulating the techniques and guidelines necessary for architectural design

The urban frontages must be seriously taken on organizing the visual structure of city and promoting the quality of urban space with all their diverse physical, functional and symbolic dimensions. Although seeing and reading of the city as a visual object is not accountable for all urban problems, it seems that considering the urban frontages is the basic and essential (but not sufficient) tools for differentiating, orienting and reading the city as a text in line with responding to the different parts of the urban issues and experience of the citizens. As some parts of the large scale visual clues, the urban historical frontages are so important and valuable as national heritage and historical capital of countries in historical viewpoints bridging the past and future, reminding memories and representing social attachments. With refering to intertwined relationship between human behaviour, culture and also urban form, urban frontages can be taken into account as explanation, reflection and manifestation of these relations as well as co-existent traditions. However, parts of these valuable frontages are sometimes threatened by urban mismanagement as a threatening factor in the historical fabrics in order to accommodate traffic leading finally to gradual distressing and demolition. In addition to this, public tastes in some cases, seems to be likely adopted to the western patterns in terms of style, form, technology and material for solutions instead of vernacular alternatives. While it is appropriate to consider transferring knowledge, skills and expertise into the country, there is much in Iranian culture and urban form which does not adapt with western patterns. The main goal of this paper is investigation on the interactive relation of urban frontages and Islamic culture in Iran. In doing so, for this paper, Islamic culture is represented and characterized in three integrated, inter-related and interwoven fields of social life, humane beliefs and historical-geographical features which influence the formation of urban frontages based on which the relationship between urban frontages and socio-cultural values and beliefs are considered. To do this, the paper will be consenterated at the process through which these frontages emerged and the way in which they have been transformed. In doing so, the research applies a descriptive-analytical methodology with reference to a number of traditional and contemporary cases as a frame of reference to come up with a comparison and contrast among them. According to the results of this research, the religious, social and vernacular values were three parts of the most influential factors defining and identifying the historical urban frontages in both architectural and urban scale in the past whereas the lack or loss of attention to the Islamic-Iranian culture along with following the western patterns, styles and materials have resulted in an identity in the case of the contemporary urban frontages. It has been highlighted the significance of considering the socio-cultural background in shaping the identity of urban frontages in this paper, which should increase the awareness of the responsible authorities of urban management to legally adhere to them in both technical and organisational terms.

This article is in search of remarking the essence and truth of architecture for finding out a meaning the architecture. Truth which is not limited to only the external framework of architecture. In order to achieve the truth, and due to the influence of the creator and appreciator of the architecture, who is of various levels of cognition, a bed of materialistic and the most tangible to non-materialistic and the most intangible things that man and architecture have is taken into consideration. According to the philosophy of Islamic and Iranian ethics, every thing’s truth is its very existence. In other words, truth is realized or appeared when a creature’s existence is manifested. In this article, by referring to the Iranian-Islamic essence and ontology, finding out the truths and the omnipresent “whatnesses” of architecture is considered; the truths which complete each other, and get the right and acceptable form and concept by going through each other, and manifest a perfect architecture. These realities won’t bring about direct ground rules and standards in architecture; yet they open into a variety of refuges. Finding out the truths and defining this approach to architecture would set us free from artless and general perceptions provoked by the form and circumstances of the time; something which has been done so many times. According to this paper, the truth of architecture consists of form, space order, and Figure which has correspondence with the levels of man’s epistemology. Here, the truths of architecture and how they exist in the totality of architecture have been both scrutinized. What is meant by ‘form’ is not ‘figure’ or shape and it is prior to that. The concept of formation is used in a place beyond the arena of the tangible experience. ‘Space order’ provides a comprehensive framework so that it is able to both explain and accord the experimental reality, and metaphysical and super-physical truth. Space order is the link which connects the logical world and form to the tangible world and the shape of architecture. Shape is defined as the physical and skeletal formation of architecture in accordance with its form and space order. This article is not in pursuit of valuing different architectures, but to show the presence of the three entities and levels of architecture as its essence; because these truths, in case of being generalized, could become universal as well, and the ways of their being architecturally emanated in different fields of time and place could also be recognized; hence, various architectures could be reviewed. Therefore, these levels of the essence and truth of architecture, in coming to a definition for that, could be helpful to us in criticizing the yesterday and today’s architectures and designing today’s architecture. As this article can define architecture: “Architecture gives space order to the form of dreams, ideas, personal beliefs and social values with a shape bound to the building technology and dependant to time and place, and with the architect’s specific language and expression, all for man’s life.”

Nowadays hundreds of outstanding Ghajar houses exist in Isfahan. Investigations indicate that in spite of their shape, variety and distinctive features, no serious study has been carried out about them. Whereas with regard to the special conditions of this city as far as age, political importance, the existence of special quarters for various religious sects in the past, and due to their being vulnerable because of changes in life styles, variety ofowners, migration; and on the whole, losing its attractions for present-day life, a study of Isfahan houses is essential. The research method which is used in this study is combinatory. It is considerable at the results of this study that Isfahan houses have mostly been built with an introvert inclination and architectural specifications of a semi-arid and warm climate; and that they can be divided into three types; based on their architectural space features, structure and decorations.Type one includes those which are built in early days of Ghajar dynasty. These houses are veryintrovert and similar to those which has built during the Safavid era. The central hall is usually cross-shaped with a dome ceiling and a height of two floors.The adjacent rooms can be made possible through two lateral located halls. The skyline is horizontal, the yard is as a complete rectangle, the rooms are usually rectangular and acute angles are used in the façade. The doors and windows have two parts with a wooden horizontal dual between them. The stairs and vertical passageways are incosiderable.Type two Includes those which are built during the second half of Ghajar Era. The most important historical feature of this era is the beginning of extensive and unilateral effects of western art and architecture on Iran; This is accompanied by a mixture of traditional architecture and European classical architecture. These effects are initially noticed in decorations. In this era semi-circular arches, European style, and realistic frescoes were greatly common. Posters, pictures, and wall-paper were used in decorating the interior partsof houses. Very fine and delicate Bote' Jegheh shapes were used to decorate halls, windows and flower-pots. Nice hallways were among artistic masterpieces andusing colored glass prevailed in this era. In this period more attention was paid on the yard façade. The prevalence of wooden ceilings instead of traditional ceilings was impressed by west and the possibility of faster implementation was the most important development in structures of Isfahan traditional houseswith more decorative variety. Type three includes a house with patterns grown out of mountainous regions and is one consisting of a winter section and a summer section on top of each other. This type is under the effect of Bakhtiari rulers of Isfahan and symbols of foreigner`s tastes. Moreover, the construction of a porch in front of the main front of the building and higher elevation of the main front from the ground, alteration of the basement to the ground floor, alteration of the skyline to a curve or triangle, and stairs gained importance were some of the most effective factors.

Urban green space are named as urban system respiratory layers which have different operations including beautifying city, adjusting environmental conditions and are a place to spend leisure times.. in this research, revitalization of 8Shahrivar Park in Semnan has been considered to study urban parks spaces, abnormalities and disorders existing in parks because of inappropriate design of parks spaces, organization and providing desirable conditions in 8Shahrivar Park for users, presenting suitable criteria to qualitative improve of parks, organization and design of a harmonic, transactor and efficient operational complex, in order to perform a sport-recreate role with environmental, functional and socio economic observations for lousier times of citizens, by stressing on ecotourism of 8Shahrivar Park in Seaman. This space is important at first, for environmental issues and secondly for spending leisure times as recreate and cultural center.. Infact aim in this research to survey: 1-investigating quantity and quality promoting human development in terms of mental health.2-investigating park green space in order to promote quality of urban environment for health citizens 3-investigating structure of park interms of sports, leisureStatistic society is included all urban citizens of Semnan, amounted 126780 persons, based on census of 2006 and sample study is 170 persons that followed the below steps:Statistical society of this research was consisted of all users of 8ShahrivaPark of Semnan which were selected randomly, out of users from in or out of the city who came to visit the park and the mean of applications, for one month (the most traffic month) has been calculated.In the next step, a questioner consisting of 25 open questions, each with 5 options, based upon 5-grade scale of Likert and one closed question has been distributed between 40 experts and mangers of parks (pilot study). Then the second questioner, with necessary alternations in the statistical sample of the research has been distributed and collected. Then analyses existing conditions management of park and natural and artificial and also statistical analysis has been done on the mentioned data by using frequency and frequency percentage, dispersion distribution diagram and Pierson test. Significant correlations between some questions have been compared and our hypotheses have been confirmed. The results of statistical analysis were as follows:1-The first hypothesis, “obtaining criteria and appropriate design of park assist to provide a comfort and pleasure environment for citizens” has been confirmed by calculating frequency percentage, Pierson test and significant difference between questions.2-The second hypothesis, “applying suitable preparations and equipments in parks may results in citizens and ecotourism attractions “has been confirmed by calculating frequency percentage, Pierson test and significant difference between questions.3-The 3rd hypothesis “beautification patterns of landscape and environment in urban parks may attract and enhance users quantitatively” has been confirmed by calculating frequency percentage, Pierson test and significant difference between questions. 4- hypothesis “urban beautiful and green environment may improve citizens’ life quality and mental and physical health and more efficiency in society” has been confirmed by calculating frequency percentage, Pierson test and significant difference between questions

An unexampled rate of transformation in urban fabric of Iranian metropolises causes many unprecedented physical changes on it. Because of these physical changes, the city's morphology has changed dramatically and in so many cases, because of unplanned / anti - planned changes, urban fabric's morphology does not follow regularity and continuity. This trend cause that planning for these kind of urban fabric confronts with difficulty because of great diversity of form in these urban fabric. This research is an attempt to determine effective indicators for classifying urban fabric types in order to plan them. The research used documentary method in compiling theoretical framework for typological and morphological studies, so tries to find some regulative principles for classification. This documentary research showed that there are two paradoxical paradigms: first, researchers need some kind of classification which contain maximum information and attributes on itself and this will lead to increase in number of types; and second, for making an reasonable classification and manageable set which facilitate planning on it, researchers need minimum types. These two paradoxical paradigms always manifest in complicated fields of classification which have great diversity in itself. Also research finds that there are three approaches in urban morphology: first, environment and behavior with concentration on relations between human behavior and built environment; second, place and its image with concentration on relationships between human experience and built environment; and third, structure and procedure with concentration on built environment evolution with help of analyzing typological elements in urban morphology. Because of its relevance, the research chose third approach. Then by using analytical - comparative method and reviewing some documents and researches, three criteria for defining typologies were determined. These criteria include form and layout, height, streets network. In accordance with two paradigms, research had to choose and analytical unit in urban fabric. Literature review showed that there are three analytical level in urban fabric research: parcels, blocks and neighborhoods. According to the goals of this research, block level was selected. Then from these three criteria, nine indicators were manifested. These indicators include average area of parcels in block, average frontage of parcels in block, average ratio of width to length of parcels, area of block, maximum slope of block, floor area ratio, ground space index, open space ratio, average number of floors in block, average visible surface, average ratio of street width to buildings height, and half of area of adjacent streets to a block as block permeability index. Paradigms of research showed that it is not possible to use all nine indicators together for classifying urban fabric, but it can be classified to main types by using essential indicators and in two stage processes. First, by using more important indicators according to purposes of planning which would be included average area of parcels in block, ground space index, floor area ratio and open space ratio. Then these main types can be subdivided by using remaining indicators to identify sub-types, and this would be a systematic approach for classifying urban fabric.

Architectural identity is one of the broadest and the most controversial issues in contemporary architecture which raises many challenges in Iran as well as other countries through all parts of the world. The necessity of building an architecture regarding to its substantial identity is one of the most important challenges in contemporary Iranian architecture. Efforts in moving toward architecture with substantial identity are one of the main responses to human spiritual needs alongside all material ones. The necessity of this issue is highlighted in rules, general acts and formal bills of Iranian authorities; especially in developmental plans. At the first and the second developmental plans, the necessity of an indigenous approach toward vernacular architecture has been emphasized, as well as the importance of Islamic-Iranian identity in contemporary constructions. Also in the third and the fourth development plans, the importance of Islamic-Iranian identity has become explicit as an article in the text of the plans. In the fifth development plan, the Islamic-Iranian identity has been stood as the first priority of the plan commitments.Due to the fact that architecture is the incarnation of visions and ideologies, it has been tried to study in this paper the meaning of identity in pre-modern, modern and post-modern eras in order to find some useful guidelines for contemporary architecture of Iran.For achieving this goal and studying on the evolutional meaning of identity in these three eras, lexical meaning of identity in dictionaries and encyclopedias have been studied in the first phase. Then the opinions of the world influential architectural reflections regarding to identity issue have been studied and presented. Finally the way that these ideas and visions incarnate in architecture in three periods has been analyzed. Finally on the basis of the theoretical framework, the meaning of identity in the field of architecture in the pre-modern, modern and post–modern eras was explained. Interpretive-historical research method has been adopted as the basis of inference mechanism, which supported by analytic-comparative tactics.As the result of this study shows, the meaning of architectural identity is different in pre-modern and post-modern eras, though at first it seems that they might be considered the same as each other. In modern age, although industrial development formed a turning point in the process of history, modern architecture lay at distance from some essential values such as social, cultural and mental values because of their rational visions. Consequently modern architectural spaces were not desirable and eligible ones and validity of them had been reduced.The results of this paper reveal that there is a meaningful collaboration between ideology of the architectural styles and characteristics of the building which has constructed in pre-modern, modern and post –modern eras. For achievement to architectural identity, architecture should become a collaborative work that crosses different boundaries which can be classified into environmental factors, function of architecture and meaning in architecture. The perspective should aim to achieve essence of identity and to find an interaction between innovation and authenticity which leads to consistency through diversity.

The city is the accumulation and integration of many individual and small group actions governed by cultural traditions and shaped by social and economic forces over time. The fabric and structure of today's city are outcomes of a process which has started many years ago and was shaped by numerous forces included historical, administrative, economic, political and social forces. Throughout history, design of streets and deliberate configuration of public spaces with buildings have reflected contemporaneous social norms or philosophical and religious beliefs. Yet the relation of designed urban space and human mind appears to be bidirectional. Indeed, the reverse impact of urban structure upon human behavior and upon thought is evidenced by both observational study and historical record. The fabric and structure actually have been working very well during the history; therefore, the city has been responsive for the needs and desires of inhabitants. On the other hand today's city fabric and image indicate heterogeneous in several aspects. In fact, a part of today's imbalance now appeared is due to inattention to such forces. As an example, beneficial commercial buildings have a little harmony and coincide with urban context and are of a contradictory relation with development plans. The ongoing dynamism of city changes makes it desirable for living. According the final researches, this paper gives an attempt to explain the forces in detail. It is believed that the quality of urban space is affected by how the forces interact together during the time. In this way, urban space could be described as the context of forces dialectic. This idea notices to the definition of “discourse” referring to Habermas’s Theory of Communicative Action. The hypothesis of this paper is that for achieving a high quality urban space, it is required to make the context ready to welcome communication among diverse forces. To prove the hypothesis, some evidence from Iranian old cities is provided. To have a good design, it is required to employ the effects of all driving forces. Urban design concerns the arrangement, appearance and functionality of towns and cities, and in particular the shaping and uses of urban public spaces. Urban Design, in fact, is an activity that has an important role to play in delivering and safeguarding many of the aspirations that civilized societies hold dear - environmental sustainability, social equity, cultural diversity and economic prosperity. Therefore, urban designers should recourse from other professions included planners, economists, sociologist and urban managers. In fact, it requires a good understanding of a range from others besides, such as real estate development, urban economy, political economy, and social theory. The design, construction and management of public spaces therefore typically demands consultation and negotiation across a variety of spheres. Urban designers rarely have the degree of artistic liberty or control that sometimes offered in designing professions such as architecture. It also typically requires interdisciplinary input with balanced representation of multiple fields including engineering, ecology, sociology and transport planning. The scale and degree of detail considered various depending on context and needs.

User participation in many projects, couldnt reach to important outcomes and in spite of many researches, there is a real tendency for architects to do it. One of the most important reasons for this is lack of assessing and analyzing the participatory projects. Today, usage of community architecture is broader than participatory architecture. Community architecture is a recent approach of achievements by community groups who have been effective in shaping their environment. The term community is used in different ways but two major use are more important: first is the territorial and geographical notion of community-neighborhood, town, and city. The second is relational concerned with quality of character of human relationship without reference to location. Community Architecture consider to cultural values and behavioral needs of community to improve the quality of the built environment. Different typology of participation exist through a participatory process:”self-mobilization”, “giving information”,”consultative design”,”functional participation”,”interactive participation”, “regionalism” and “interpretive participation”. Current state of the literature shows tow approaches: first: sociological approach that searching for local community functioning and second: psychological approach that focus on psychological sense of community. Sense of community (SC) factor is a useful assessing tool to find out outcomes of community participation. SC (sense of community) factors have four elements: 1-membership; 2-influence; 3-integration & fulfillment of needs; and 4-shared emotional connection. One of the participatory projects in this case, is child-friendly City of BAM. The CFC project in BAM (after destroyable earthquake 2003 in BAM, IRAN) was searching the main factors that make a city child friendly. Based on this goal, some workshops were hold at 2004 and children participated in order to form their environment. The workshops focused on community participation, using children as key planners of their own environment from city planning to design a school. in these workshops, children participated with some tools such as drawing, role playing, puzzle, workshops, behavioral mapping, etc. After 5 years later, a POE was held to assessing on the projects (dream school). The result shows little relation between children ideas and the built school. Children priorities to design their school is differ to architect priorities and the built environment is not outcome of children participation and their needs and dreams but there is a relation between SCI factors and children participation. A correlation research method shows that there is a meaningful relation between SCI factors and participation of users (children) in design process of architecture. On the other hand, existing sense of community factors (in case BAM, this is because of earthquake) among users is a necessary condition to use participatory methods in architectural design process. Studies of child friendly city project in BAM (post earthquake) shows that we can reach the proper goals of community participation in the built environment, not only by accurate participatory tools, methods and levels, but also with existence of sense of community among the users. So, today new paradigms of community participation in design process is based on SC factors and fostering sense of community among users can provide better context to reach aims of community design.